This invention pertains to devices for attaching spare tires to the exterior of a vehicle and more particularly to a spring-loaded mechanism adapted for easy use in raising the tire from ground level to carrying level.
Many vans, pickup trucks, and such vehicles as travel trailers use tires and wheel combinations which weigh enough as to be difficult for some people to lift. Frequently these vehicles especially those adapted for entrance or loading from the rear, store the tire within the vehicle, thus using up desirable interior space.
Spare tire carriers on those vehicles adapted to carry the tire and wheel outside of the vehicle, typically store the tire at the rear of the vehicle in a vertical position at a fairly high spacing from the ground. For a vehicle with a rear entrance, this storage interferes with access to the vehicle.
Former devices have used hinged carriers by means of which the tire generally is swung outwardly to clear the entrance. However, such construction requires mounting of the carrier on the body and the weight of the tire on the hinge tends to tear the hinge off from the vehicle. Also, the swinging mounting seems to be particularly subject to coming unfastened and swinging free, perhaps because of the non-rigid mounting.
By my device, I provide a hinged carrier adapted to swing down towards the ground where the tire will be out of the way of any access to the vehicle. The carrier can be readily dropped and returned to its upright position when the access means on the rear of the vehicle is to be closed. Normally, such a device would require a fairly large force to raise the tire and wheel from its lowered position which could cause severe problems for people subject to handicaps because of age, physical disability, heart disease or other physical weakness.
Spring loading uniquely positioned on my device provides a compact mode of further relieving the force required to raise the tire and wheel from the ground to the carrying position. Also, because of the bottom mounting, I am able to mount the tire carrier on the frame of the vehicle. Thus, the mount can be much more sturdy than a swinging carrier which would be bolted onto the body of the unit. There could be no tearing of any hinge mounting, and the latching of the carrier can be much more certain because of the solidity of the mounting.